Watch: It Is Starting Again, It Must Be Election Season - Biden's COVID Advisor Pushing Mask Mandates Again

By Rachel Morris | Tuesday, 19 July 2022 12:00 PM
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Watch: It Is Starting Again, It Must Be Election Season - Biden's COVID Advisor Pushing Mask Mandates Again

Dr. Ashish Jha, President Biden's COVID-19 coordinator, voiced backing on Sunday for Los Angeles County planning to bring back its mask mandate, as the area has seen an increase in coronavirus cases ignited by the BA.5 variant of the omicron strain.

Los Angeles is on pace to bring back its universal indoor mask mandate on July 29, unless the nation drops below the CDC's "high" transmission threshold. Jha was questioned regarding Los Angeles' step to bring back its mask mandate throughout his appearance on ABC's "This Week."

"My view on this has been very clear: local jurisdictions, cities, counties, states should make decisions about mask mandates because communities are different and their patterns of transmission are different," Jha clarified.

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"That said, CDC has very clear guidance on this as well through their COVID community levels. And the CDC recommendation is that when you're in a high zone, that sort of orange zone as L.A. County is, you know, people wearing masks indoors is important, and it will make a difference."

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Earlier in the interview, Jha announced that it's "really important to remind people of the science, the public health science and the public health science is very clear. If you're in a crowded indoor space, especially if it's poorly ventilated, wearing a mask reduces your risk of infection and spreading it to others. So we've got to continue to encourage people to do that."

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BA.5 is the latest coronavirus variant to drive growth in infections around the globe.

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According to the World Health Organization's most recent report, it was behind 52% of cases sequenced in late June, increasing from 37% in one week. In the United States, it is estimated to be causing around 65% of infections.

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Like its closely related sibling, BA.4, BA.5 is particularly good at evading the immune protection afforded by vaccination or earlier infection.

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BA.5 has a growth advantage over the other sublineages of Omicron that are circulating," Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO's technical lead on COVID-19, explained to reporters last week.

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Meanwhile, Americans are growing less and less trusting of medical advice from specialists, and lack of representation in the scientific field may be a reason why, Jha further explained.

"If you look at the experience of the way the public health system has treated, let's say, African-Americans in America, there's a lot of basis for mistrust. It is not a glorious history," Jha announced at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Aspen, Colorado, last month.

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